PioneerCare Foundation has selected Pastor Marilyn Breckenridge to provide the keynote address at the fifth annual Friends of Pioneer Harvest Dinner on September 27.
The event serves as the Foundation’s primary fundraising event each fall. This year’s Harvest Dinner is also set to be the opening event for a series of activities celebrating Pioneer’s 90th Anniversary. On October 7, 1928, the first residents moved into what was then called Pioneer Memorial Home.
Marilyn Breckenridge’s home town is Fergus Falls. Her parents were the late Samuel and Lillian Saure and her sister is Mabeth Gyllstrom. Both Samuel and Lillian were once Corporate board members for Pioneer and Mabeth later served on the Auxiliary and Foundation boards. In 1965, Lillian was appointed as the first licensed administrator of Pioneer, a position she held for ten years.
Marilyn and her husband, Tom, live in the Twin Cities and are parents of three grown children with six grandsons—four living in the Twin Cities and two in Geneva, Switzerland.
Marilyn is a retired ELCA pastor who was ordained 39 years ago, making her one of the first women to serve a congregation in the Twin Cities. Her first called position was at Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd in Minneapolis. She then served as assistant to the bishop for the St. Paul Area Synod of the ELCA for seven years, and then returned to parish ministry as senior pastor at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Wadena.
Her diverse career also includes serving as the first woman chaplain for the Minnesota State Senate, publishing devotional books, and teaching leadership in the Iringa Diocese of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania.
After completing Intentional Interim Ministry Training, Marilyn has served in interim roles for multiple congregations in Minnesota.
Marilyn earned her undergraduate degree at Augsburg College in Minneapolis, and continued with graduate studies at Hartford Seminary in Connecticut and at Luther Theological Seminary in St. Paul, ultimately earning her Doctorate of Ministry.
